Kevin Feige Puts The Kibosh On Female-Led Superhero Movies For Now

Ladies like going to the movies too, you know. And since the superhero movie industry is a billion dollar one, it makes sense that some of that money is coming from the pocket of a woman. A lot of the leading actors in those movies are men, but what if they were actually women? What a novelty that would be! Cate Blanchett said it herself when accepting her Best Actress Oscar, telling the world, "Yo, it would be totally baller if I played a superhero, word? Ladies is pimps too." Paraphrasing.

But when asked about the topic, normally-chatty Marvel head Kevin Feige becomes a little tongue-tied, and the businessman in him comes out. When asked about a solo movie for Black Widow, he tells Badass Digest:

"Frankly if we do a Black Widow movie after Age of Ultron, when she’s been central in three or four movies I don’t think we’d get the quote unquote credit for it. People would say ‘She’s already a big giant superhero!’ But if we had a great idea, we’d do it... I like the idea if we’re going to do a [female lead] do a new one. Do a wholly new character, do an origin story... We’ve talked a lot about [Captain Marvel]. I think that would be very cool. "

Marvel has either released, or officially announced, thirteen movies. That includes a trilogy for Iron Man and Captain America and two Thor films, and none of these films have focused on lead females at all. The Avengers counts one female among the core group, as does Guardians Of The Galaxy. And the lineup is basically sequel-reliant: six of the thirteen films are sequels, a full seven if you count The Incredible Hulk. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of space for risk-taking.

Of course, look at the comics history of Black Widow. In the movies, she basically offers brute force and catsuits. In the comics, she’s a double, triple and sometimes quadruple agent with a host of secrets and a list of betrayals. In the movies, she seems buddy-buddy enough to eat schwarma with the gang, but the source material spotlights a character that no one can trust, someone who would easily take a character to bed while gathering the information they need to make that person disappear. She’s not named Black Widow for nothing.

Feige’s comments also seem to shoot down (or maybe not?) the rumor that Captain Marvel will be a part of Avengers: Age Of Ultron, hinting that we might meet the character in a solo film. Marvel, also known by Ms. Marvel, is basically a super powered bruiser with a colorful history that merits her own movie. If that movie ever comes to fruition, however, you’d hope they give her something to do, and that she isn’t flying around hitting things. At that point, there’s no separation between male and female characters, because you’ve turned them all into toys.